I’ve read / am reading a bunch of books on fascism, Hitler, and Weimar Germany, and the takes on that episode just seemed stunningly superficial. (The cohost even blamed workers for Nazism IIRC). The Mass Psychology of Fascism, Blackshirts and Reds, Hitler: The Psychopathic God, and even a popular left-liberal history like Before the Deluge are so much sharper and more detailed.
I don’t know that it’s completely right because I’m not an expert, but it seems sound to me. It’s basically an effort to explain where fascism comes from and how the Nazis seized power in a place with such strong leftwing support as Weimar Germany (which I think had the largest communist party outside of Russia during this time). It also attempts to explain why some workers vote for or support fascists. Reich is sort of like the Freud of Freud: he leans heavily on sexual repression to explain things but does a good job of linking this to economics. I think the book’s wikipedia page actually does a good job of summarizing it. Later on Reich either turned into a kook or discovered more ideas that few of us are prepared to accept.
If you ever get bored, "On the Psychology of Military Incompetence" is one of the weirdest, yet funniest books I've ever read. A strict Freudian (literally, with the anal phase, etc.) tries to psychoanalyze failed generals.
I’ve read / am reading a bunch of books on fascism, Hitler, and Weimar Germany, and the takes on that episode just seemed stunningly superficial. (The cohost even blamed workers for Nazism IIRC). The Mass Psychology of Fascism, Blackshirts and Reds, Hitler: The Psychopathic God, and even a popular left-liberal history like Before the Deluge are so much sharper and more detailed.
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That’s true, but podcasts like Revolutionary Left, Why Theory, or Red Library definitely go so much deeper.
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I don’t know that it’s completely right because I’m not an expert, but it seems sound to me. It’s basically an effort to explain where fascism comes from and how the Nazis seized power in a place with such strong leftwing support as Weimar Germany (which I think had the largest communist party outside of Russia during this time). It also attempts to explain why some workers vote for or support fascists. Reich is sort of like the Freud of Freud: he leans heavily on sexual repression to explain things but does a good job of linking this to economics. I think the book’s wikipedia page actually does a good job of summarizing it. Later on Reich either turned into a kook or discovered more ideas that few of us are prepared to accept.
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I read that as lib-in-denial energy the first time. Still made sense.
If you ever get bored, "On the Psychology of Military Incompetence" is one of the weirdest, yet funniest books I've ever read. A strict Freudian (literally, with the anal phase, etc.) tries to psychoanalyze failed generals.
Brb going to read this.